AUSTIN — Demetrius Griffin had a daily routine.
After school, the 15-year-old would meet up with some friends and then walk his cousin's dogs, his cousin and friends said. Afterward, the boys would go swimming at LaFollete Park, 1333 N. Laramie Ave.
But the boy who friends and family said lived an ordinary teenage life saw an untimely and tragic end. At a vigil for the teen Tuesday, friends, family and the Austin community said they are asking asking for his killers to come forward and for peace to come to the area.
"He didn't deserve this!" said Elisia Pento, Griffin's cousin, as she began to cry. "I want him home."
Griffin's body was found at 1:25 a.m. Tuesday after firefighters put out a trash fire in the 5500 block of West Cortez Avenue, police said. He had been badly burned, police said.
His cause of death is still being investigated by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
Demetrius Griffin [Facebook]
Neighbors who live in the block said they are taking solace in the fact that Griffin was likely dead before his body was set ablaze, said David Powell, who lives in the block and also taught Griffin at Brunson Elementary School.
"He was probably already dead. Nobody heard no hollering," Powell said.
That neighbors were being comforted at the fact that Griffin's death was not as grisly as it could be made some angry. In a neighborhood that sees its fair share of shootings and murders, Griffin's has shocked and galvanized the area.
"To burn a baby — it's horrendous," Powell said.
"This is movie stuff," said Chris Slaughter, a security guard at Brunson who knew Griffin. "You never hear about this."
Griffin's family was surrounded by more than 100 friends and supporters. Many family members were inconsolable and were helped away from the vigil by other family.
"Turn yourself in, monsters!" one woman said between sobs.
Carol Williams Hall speaks at a vigil for Demetrius Griffin, 15, found slain and burned in Austin. [DNAinfo/Joe Ward]
The anti-violence group STV (Stop The Violence) helped put on the vigil, and had a pointed message for the community.
"A lot of you kids, I know," Carol Williams Hall, a longtime Austin resident, said into a microphone. "When are you going to get off the streets? Someone knows who did this."
Griffin was described as a funny and touching kid. He had just started his freshman year at Steinmetz High School and was looking forward to high school, said Cordarius Thomas, 13, who said he has been friends with Griffin since he was 3.
"He stayed out of trouble, didn't mess with nobody," Thomas said. "I can't eat, sleep, do nothing."
Powell said he taught Griffin math from sixth- through eighth-grade and was also the schools disciplinarian before that, so "I knew all the boys," he said.
He said Powell had average school problems but nothing serious. Griffin showed a liking for math and Powell hoped to foster that talent.
"He had a big smile, a big heart," Powell said.
But after 12 years working at the West Side school and six years in the Army, Powell said he hasn't known anyone that had as horrendous a death as Griffin.
"What's going to strike me like this?" he said. "It's just terrible."
Two men console each other at a vigil for Demetrius Griffin, 15, found slain and burned in Austin. [DNAinfo/Joe Ward]
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